I don't understand this Chinese announcement in relation to the 1st ever announcement.
The 1st announcement said:
Yet the Chinese announcement says:
TGS announced on 9/9/16:
So my questions are:
1. What exactly can the old 4,000 tpa cobalt plant produce?
2. If CFE has a 4,000tpa cobalt plant, why do they need funding of leaching technology to produce a high value cobalt hydroxide product?
3. My limited research on cobalt hydroxide finds it is a low-grade cobalt concentrate.
There are generally three major Co products from Cu-Co ores, namely: Co concentrate, intermediate Co precipitates, and LME grade Co metal.
A 2012 KPMG report on the DRC revealed that Co accounted for 39% of total DRC exports, second only to Cu (43% of exports). However, only 5% of the Co exported was refined, with the remainder being Co concentrate and intermediate product, which usually is a mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) (Parant et.al., 2013). This is an undesirable situation, as only minimum returns for one of the country’s major export products are being realized. In an effort to promote the expansion of exporting domestically value-added products, the DRC government reaffirmed its ban on the export of Cu and Co ores and concentrates in May 2013. However, the inconsistent domestic electricity supply in the DRC is a concern for domestic Co refining. Poor transport infrastructure is a major issue in the DRC, and import costs of capital goods for the expanding mining industry continue to increase. Furthermore, the DRC was rated ‘upper-moderate’ by the NKC Political Risk Rating (Parant et.al, 2013). Capital investment required for Co refining to LME grade metal is high and the unfavourable business and political climate in the DRC renders such investment risky. However, these challenges present an opportunity for technology development to produce improved quality Co products, hence higher value, at lower capital (capex) and operating costs (opex).
MHP is the common intermediate Co product for the Copperbelt. Other intermediates can be in the form of carbonates, sulphides, or sulphates. MHP normally contains 17% (m/m) Co when lime or limestone is used as precipitant and 35 to 40% (m/m) when MgO is used as precipitant. The import and transport costs of reagents, coupled with the high transport costs for the relatively low Co content product, might not result in optimum returns, as premium quality MHP is sold at approximately 60% of the price of LME grade Co. The risk associated with capital investment has to be taken into account as well.
